Taken four hours apart, the first image shows her flexed, chiselled abs.

In her second snap, Victoria’s stomach is swollen from PMS, with the social media influencer writing about her "extreme bloating", lack of energy, mood swings, cramps and more, in a bid to get others to be more open.

"I wanted people to see [the] reality that I don't walk around with a super flat stomach all the time,” she said.

View photos

Victoria D'Ariano bloat pms

We've all been that picture on the right. Photo: Caters

"Before I would look at other women who appeared to be perfect and beautiful all the time, then I would look at myself and not understand why I wasn't the same.

"I wanted to be real with my followers and talk about my struggles to shed light on something that people don't really talk about."

The Los Angeles-local believes Instagram stars often hide the realities of being a woman and says her followers resonated with the honesty of her post, which attracted over 9,500 likes.

View photos

Victoria D'Ariano body builder Instagram fitness influencer

The former bodybuilder decided to relax her training regime after she suffered from body image issues. Photo: Caters

"No one talks about the struggle women go through every month, with myself I go through being bloated, depressed, exhausted and moody,” said Victoria.

"I was kind of inspired, my stomach was so uncomfortable and I was feeling all these emotions, so I decided it was good for others to know they are not alone and the symptoms are normal.

"The first picture I took, was me doing a typical flex selfie, then the second, which was three or four hours later showed my stomach swollen.

"There are periods of the month where I am bloated and it's unrealistic to think you can always look like the flex picture rather than the bloated one.

"I want people to realise, one moment on Instagram doesn't always depict what actually is going on in a person's life and that what we go through is totally normal.

View photos

Victoria D'Ariano bloated stomach PMS photo

'I've been all different shapes and sizes,' Victoria captioned this snap. Photo: Instagram

"The response from my post was so positive, a lot of women felt empowered by me showing you can be natural and embrace all parts of a being a woman.

"It reminded me that we can be too hard on ourselves for not looking our normal selves during PMS, but it's something very normal and is just a part of the human body."

Victoria, who has over 340,000 followers on Instagram, hopes her candidness will encourage others to talk more truthfully about their own experiences.

View photos

Victoria D'Ariano Instagram

These days Victoria is all about body love and acceptance. Photo: Instagram

"I think people need to be more honest because there are many young women who are influenced by them yet their Instagram image of perfection isn't always a reality,” she said.

"Things can be perfectly posed, edited, have great lighting and more, others should come forward and share their real struggles too."